Updates on The Bentway (formerly Project: Under Gardiner)

In June, Waterfront Toronto announced that The Bentway was the clear winner of the run-off vote in our city-wide Project: Under Gardiner naming campaign. It’s a name that celebrates "the bents" – the column-and-beam structures that frame the spaces of what will soon become a vibrant urban trail. Today, The Bentway launches its new website at thebentway.ca.

What’s next?
Over the summer months and into the fall, the project team advanced along many parallel tracks. A new not-for-profit organization, The Bentway Conservancy, has been established to guide the project forward. The conservancy is being incubated by Artscape. A board of directors has been formed and a hiring process is underway for the organization’s senior leadership team.

The Bentway Conservancy will provide administrative and operational leadership, ensuring that the space engages the surrounding community and city as a whole, offers a broad spectrum of events and programming, is safe and accessible, and is financially sustainable. It is responsible for mapping out a schedule of year-round events, activities and opportunities for residents, community members and visitors. The Bentway Conservancy will work in partnership with the City of Toronto, the Fort York National Historic Site, the seven neighbouring communities and other stakeholders and partners across the City of Toronto and beyond.

The project team is now finalizing the design and working toward a construction start later this fall. In the coming weeks, more important updates will be coming through The Bentway’s website at: http://www.thebentway.ca/news-updates/

To start, this new blog post from urban design lead Ken Greenberg looks toward the work ahead.

What we heard during public consultations
An important part of how The Bentway is coming together is the input and feedback that we have received from stakeholders and members of the public. Want to see what we heard over the course of 119 days of city-wide community engagement? You can now download a copy of the Consultation Summary & Public Feedback Report (PDF) from our website.

Request for expressions of interest (REOI)
As part of the process of building out The Bentway’s programming plans, Artscape has put out a call to arts and culture organizations, event producers, music promoters, curators, neighbours, community organizers, recreational and wellness initiatives and more. They would like to hear how groups would like to use this new public space. Submissions can be made online at: http://www.thebentway.ca/share-your-idea/

Keep in touch with The Bentway team
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Find The Bentway on social media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebentway
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebentway
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebentway